When the Dodgers began their off-season the front office planned to pursue Gerrit Cole and hopefully land the prized free agent on the market. The Dodgers made a serious run at Cole and offered him an eight-year deal worth close to $300 million but they ultimately came up short as the Yankees offered a nine-year contract and Cole seemed to want to play in New York.
The Dodgers had some level of interest in other free agent starters such as Hyun-Jin Ryu and Madison Bumgarner but they were not interested enough to offer them a contract. Now the free-agent market is out of quality options but there are plenty of quality relievers still available on the market.